ADAPT - Adaptation to Changing Environments: Water, Climate, Food, and Nature -- As part of the ADAPT project, WEAP was used to develop and evaluate adaptation strategies in the Sacramento Basin to alleviate negative impacts of climate change and variability. A variety of adaptation strategies were analyzed with WEAP to address the tradeoffs between water allocations that prioritize the environment and food security under changing climate and land-use conditions. SEI-Boston / Natural Heritage Institute (NHI) downloads/adapt_sacramento.pdf (2.7 Megs)
Environmentally Optimal Alternative: Bay Delta (California) -- The current lack of understanding of both long-term and owner preferences and biophysical constraints suggest that the plan for the Delta’s future should include a near-term component consisting of immediate, low-conflict restoration opportunities nested with a longer term process that emphasizes local control, learning by doing, and actions that secure the future of the Delta irrespective of future land use decisions. There is too much uncertainty to specify the ultimate targets for types, locations or magnitudes of habitat restoration, but there is sufficient certainty and consensus to move ahead ith the immediate opportunities on which the interested parties already agree. Rather than argue about the extent and magnitude of a
long-term plan, Delta stakeholders should work together to immediately implement this more
modest set of low-conflict restoration projects. Lessons learned from implementation of these
projects coupled with additional time for further analysis will help illuminate and foster consensus on the next steps to take on the path toward a broader restoration program and a sustainable future for the Delta. Natural Heritage Institute (NHI) downloads/BayDelta1.pdf (3.2 Megs)
Feasibility Study of a Maximal Program of Groundwater Banking -- Recognizing that powerful interests will naturally seek to defend the economic developments made possible through historic water diversion, we sought to demonstrate that groundwater banking can become one of the elusive win-win alternatives long desired by the California water community. To make this case we adopted a very systematic approach towards analyzing and surmounting the physical, legal and institutional barriers which could stymie full realization of the yield potential associated with groundwater banking. The intent of this reductionist approach is to preemptively
respond to the visceral reactions which are sure to greet a call to strengthen the ties between the
management of California’s surface water and groundwater resources. By addressing, and hopefully dispelling, some of these concerns in advance, this report lays the groundwork for to the full realization of the wide-spread benefit made possible through groundwater banking. Natural Heritage Institute (NHI) downloads/BayDelta2.pdf (1.7 Megs)
Simulation of Water Supply and Demand in the Aral Sea Region -- The Aral Sea, a huge saline lake located in the arid south-central region of the former U.S.S.R., is
vanishing because the inflows from its two feed rivers, the Amudar’ya and Syrdar'ya, have diminished radically over the past three decades. The loss of river flow is the result of massive increases in river
withdrawals, primarily for cotton irrigation in the basins. A microcomputer model, the Water Evaluation and Planning System (WEAP), has been developed for simulating current water balances and evaluating
water management strategies in the Aral Sea region. WEAP treats water demand and supply issues in a comprehensive and integrated fashion. The scenario approach allows flexible representation of the consequences of alternative development patterns and supply dynamics. For the Aral region’s complex
water systems, a detailed water demand and supply simulation was performed for the 1987-2020
period, assuming that the current practices continue. The analysis provides a picture of an unfolding and deepening crisis. Stockholm Environment Institute - Boston Center downloads/aralsea.pdf (7.1 Megs)
Water demand management scenarios in a water-stressed basin in South Africa -- Like the majority of the river basins in South Africa, water resources in the Olifants River Basin are almost fully allocated. WEAP was used to build a model allowing for the simulation and analysis of various water allocation scenarios and, above all, scenarios of users’ behavior. Water demand management is one of the options discussed in more detail here. Simulations are proposed for diverse climatic situations from dry years to normal years and results are discussed. International Water Management Institute (IWMI) downloads/southafrica.pdf (0.3 Megs)
(2.7 Megs)
